Rotary Club of Norwich
March 3rd, 2021
Location-ZOOM Meeting
THE RONE
Presiding: President Mary Richardson
Invocation: Gary Young gave a brilliant invocation as always.
Fellowship: Bob Farwell
Birthdays: No Birthdays
Anniversaries: Erin Gizio – 5 years & Paul Blanchard – 9 years
Visiting Rotarians: None
Guests: Christine Foster & Shelia Horvitz from Safe Futures
Bob gave a very interesting fellowship on some baseball history from our area of Connecticut from the year 1916 according to an article he researched from the Norwich Bulletin. Back in the old days some of the professional players would do a tour of smaller towns to make extra money outside of their professional duties and that year the famous Ty Cobb made a stop in Putnam, Connecticut on October 8th, 1916 at the Putnam Fairgrounds. He was playing for a New Haven team at the time and they were scheduled to play the Putnam team in front of a crowd of 4,000 fans. Ty Cobb refused to dress for the game until he was paid the hefty sum of $300.00. He eventually suited up when he was paid and faced one if the best black pitchers of the day, Richard “Cannonball” Redding who was hired to pitch for the Putnam team. Cannonball brushed back Cobb quite a few times at the plate and he pitched a brilliantly the entire game! Word had it that Cannonball was the star of the game and more popular than Cobb that day. Sadly Cannonball was probably paid a heck of a lot less than Cobb for his appearance.
Announcements:
*Mary Richardson announced that it looks like the Matching District Grant project will be the raised bed Community Garden at St. Mark’s on Broadway and we will partner with the RCC and the Norwich Sunrise Club.
*President Mary is still looking for a Membership Chairman.
*There will be a Service Person of the Month program in March for both last year’s recipient and this year’s recipient too.
*If you know of anyone who would be a good speaker at one of our Rotary Meetings contact Bob Farwell or Kevin Wickless. Speakers can be done virtual (ZOOM) as well if needed.
*Mary said she sent out an email about the Norwich Puzzle Piece Project that Jodi Savage from NFA is running. Keep an eye out for the information and please take part.
*Mike and Jim are working on nomination of officers for next year and it is a work in progress.
*President Mary suggested members take up Susy Hurlbert’s challenge and invite guests to our meeting even though we a Zooming the meetings. We should still invite guests.
*On March 24th our speaker will be Meg Strand from the New England Science & Sailing Program out of Stonington.
*The Rotary Community Corps will be conducting a “Clean-Up the Streets” program on Saturday March, 27th from 9 to 11am. Meet in the YMCA parking lot and bags and instructions will be provided. Please take part if you can.
*Gary Young reminded us that the Rotary Golf Tournament will be on September 1st this year.
Happy Dollars: Jen Granger (Subbing for Mike Gordon)
Gen started things off saying she was happy the weather was acting somewhat spring like and that she saw a Robin Red Breast today!
*Andrew Nollman said he loaded up his parents in the wind and cold yesterday to get to the airport for a trip to Florida where they will stay a few months to get warm! They both received their Covid vaccines so they are good to go!
*Bob Farwell was happy to spend time with his 1 year old grandson! He was also happy to hear that JJ Watt will be playing for the Phoenix Cardinals this coming season!
*Bill Champagne is pleased that he will get to play with his 8 year old grandson later in the day. He also said in all his years in the real estate business he had to have a showing in Woodstock cancelled as a result of yesterday’s wind storm where a tree fell on the house.
*Gary Young said he got more exercise than he bargained for yesterday after the wind storm blew everything from his yard and porch down the road and he had to collect it all!
*Barry Shead was happy to report that his granddaughter was baptized over the weekend. He also said that he too has read accounts of baseball players earning extra money in the old days and Babe Ruth stopped by Putnam also and demanded $500.00 for his services instead of the $300.00 that was offered. The organizers refused to pay it, so The Babe got back on the train and went home!
*Susy Hurlbert reported that her son and daughter-in-law made it to Seoul, Korea last week to start their new jobs teaching school, however they are still looking for housing. She also was happy her daughter has landed a great job with Yale-New Haven Hospital. Susy was also sad to hear of Bonnie Hong’s passing. She ended with how she was looking at everyone’s memories of their traveling vacations on Facebook and was sad it’s not time to travel yet. She and her husband bought “e-bikes” in the mean time to get them through.
*Anna Perch welcomed out guests from Safe Futures. Anna was also pleased that the teachers and staff at NFA will be getting their Covid vaccine shots later this week. Also on March 24th the Slater Museum will be hosting a digital program on “Slatersville” and John Fox Slater. The event is free and log on to the Slater Museum website for more details.
*Nancy Gentes welcomed Christine and Sheila from Safe Futures.
*Michelle Scott was happy that she and her husband celebrated Valentine’s Day (better late than never) over the past weekend that involved Ax-Throwing and Go-Carts! She also informed that the Generations Conference will take place in March of 2022. Michelle also is getting her 2nd Covid shot later in the week and is not looking forward to it and hopes the side effects aren’t very severe.
*Mike Cooney gave happy dollars for his daughter Katie who will be getting a kitten for her 5th birthday! She will be celebrating her Birthday today!
*Rodney Green was supposed to be in Aruba at this time of year like usual with his wife Lucille, but Covid made them change their plans. They visited Gatlinburg, Tennessee instead and were hoping to get to Florida from there, but the stormy weather made them decide to return to Connecticut instead. He said that the trip from the Delaware Bridge to Connecticut took nine hours in the snow! Not much of a vacation unfortunately.
Auction: No Auction
Lottery: Zoom lottery took place.
Program: Mary Richardson introduced Christine Foster, Director of Crisis Counseling and Camp Hope and Sheila Horvitz who has been involved with Safe Futures as a volunteer and benefactor for over 45 years. They spoke of the Camp Hope program for children of domestic violence. Camp HOPE is a national camping and mentoring program that is focused on children whose lives have been impacted by domestic violence. This program brings a trauma-informed lens to the camping experience. The Camp HOPE model is comprised of one week of varied camp programming, supported by year round mentoring activities through the Pathways program. For more information on Camp HOPE contact Christine Foster, Director of Crisis Counseling & Camp HOPE at cfoster@safefuturesct.org
President Mary adjourned the meeting at 1:10pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Bob Reed – RONE Reporter